Countertop grills are well-known devices for cooking foodstuffs in a similar manner to conventional outdoor gas and charcoal grills. However, countertop grills are typically powered by an electrical source (e.g., a 120V outlet) and are much smaller than conventional outdoor grills. As such, countertop grills are useful during fall, winter, and spring seasons when inclement weather may cause impractical outdoor grilling conditions. Furthermore, cleaning a conventional outdoor grill is typically more time-consuming than a countertop grill. For example, the grilling rack of a conventional outdoor grill may need to be scraped to remove remaining food particles and the grill may need to be tipped to remove grease after use.
Most countertop grill designs include a frame supporting a lower heating element. The lower heating element heats a lower cooking plate on which foodstuffs are placed during use. The frame pivotally connects to a lid supporting an upper heating element. The upper heating element heats an upper cooking plate that cooks foodstuffs from above during use. That is, the upper and lower cooking plates cook foodstuffs from both above and below during use, thereby providing faster cooking than conventional outdoor grills.
Unfortunately, previous conventional outdoor grill and countertop grill designs are typically more effective for cooking some types of foodstuffs compared to other types. For example, previous designs are highly effective for cooking foodstuffs such as hamburger patties, chicken breasts, and steaks. Conversely, previous grill designs are less effective for cooking sausage-like foodstuffs such as sausages, bratwursts, breakfast links, frankfurters, and the like, due to their shape. The outer surfaces of sausage-like foodstuffs are cooked, and in some cases even burned, by previous grill designs while the centers may be undercooked. Furthermore, it may be difficult to determine if the centers of sausage-like foodstuffs are properly cooked based on the burned appearance of the outer surfaces. A user may cut open sausage-like foodstuffs during grilling to visibly determine if the center is cooked. However, such an action causes sausage-like foodstuffs to release moisture thereby altering the flavor of the cooked product.
Considering the limitations of previous grill designs, it would be desirable to have an improved cooking device that reduces or eliminates one or more of the aforementioned drawbacks of previous designs.